Private Property

Mises in 1926: Public opinion always wants "easy money," that is, low interest rates. But it is the very function of the note-issuing bank to resist such demands, protecting its own solvency.

"It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires of freedom in people's minds."

According to Say, all productive enterprises are created by individuals in society, not by the state. It is the responsibility of productive enterprise to support the continuity of families.

It is the business of legal violence to defend persons and their property from violent attack, from molestation or appropriation of their property without their consent.

Utilitarian economists, grounded on no ethical theory of property rights, can only fall back on defending whatever status quo may happen to exist.

His emphasis on property, capital, entrepreneurship, and above all, his commitment to human action and not government action, makes his long-forgotten work on economics worthy of a revival.

There is, in short national liberation (good) versus national "imperialism" over other peoples (bad). Once we get over simplistic individualism, this distinction should not be difficult to grasp.

The violator of his property is not the maverick company that pays the bribe, but the producer who violates his contract with the sponsor by accepting it.

Crusoe economics can aid greatly in solving such problems of political philosophy as the nature and role of liberty, property, and violence.

Will guilt or innocence in criminal trials increasingly hinge on broader desirable social justice outcomes?